Meet the Sustainability and Programming Merit Badges

The summer of 2013 is already one of the most exciting times in the history of Scouting, what with the smashing success of the National Jamboree and all.

As if that wasn’t great enough, we now have two brand-new merit badges to get fired up about.

The Sustainability merit badge takes conservation and environmental science to another level, focusing on the idea of taking responsibility for balancing long-term environmental, social, health, and economic needs with progress and development. It also encourages the idea that development, while meeting the needs of the present, cannot compromise the ability of future generations.

The Programming badge, meanwhile, takes Scouts “behind the screen” for a look at the complex codes that make digital devices useful and fun, while providing a closer look at how digital devices can do amazing things and perform operations that would have seemed like magic to people in the past. (Check out BL’s special interactive Programming site here.)

But wait! There’s more!

The Cycling merit badge now includes a mountain biking option, which gives Scouts the option of earning the badge by biking either on roads, or off.